Category Archives: News

I just read a couple of posts on Life With Dogs by Brian Beker that made me cry. Even though it’s a sad story about a deeply damaged dog, I teared up because sometimes human kindness is even more amazing than their ability to be cruel. And this story is about one of those times.

But it turns out the author is writing a book about Orville, his beloved Lab, and if you pre-order it, part of the sales will go to help dogs in need. Here’s what the site says about the book-in-progress:

Late one Himalayan night, after a run of luck that included being crushed in a jeep wreck, both legs and an arm pulverized, my skull cracked open and my face smashed, only to be paralyzed by a spinal cord tumor, divorced, fired, sentenced to death for espionage in one country and persona non grata-ed and deported from another, I saw a dog in the storm clouds over Kathmandu. I took it as a sign, and I looked for that dog for two years.
Matching a dog on Earth to one you saw up in the sky turned out to be harder than I thought.

I’m going to pitch in, and you should too. Heck, if for not other reason you should do it to get your picture (and your pet’s picture) in the book!

I continue to count my lucky stars that Maybelle found her way to Connecticut. I came across this story today about a small “no-kill shelter” in Georgia that has been a bit deceptive. It’s a little confusing — I guess people sponsor a dog, making it easier for the animal to get adopted. But often, the dog is put to sleep at the county shelter nextdoor and the sponsors get emails saying the dogs were adopted or sent to a rescue.

What does this have to do with Maybelle? Well, I noticed a familiar name in the story — the Boggs Mountain Humane Shelter. Yes, according to the paperwork I got from my local humane society when I adopted Maybelle, she came here by way of the Boggs Mountain Humane Shelter. Close call, May! Read the rest of this entry →

Create a statewide spay/neuter program to reduce the number of homeless animals in the Commonwealth and would, in turn, also reduce the cost to cities and towns for housing and sheltering these animals. This would be funded by a voluntary tax check off.

Add enforcement provisions to section 139A (the spay/neuter deposit law for animals adopted from shelters and animal control facilities) to ensure these animals can’t reproduce.

Require animal control officers to receive training. People are often surprised to learn that their local animal control officer is not required to receive training for the complicated work they do to keep the people and animals in their community safe. This would be funded by the tax check off.

Prohibit carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide gas as a means to “euthanize” dogs and cats.

Recently there was a New York Times article about how 20-somethings are using their parents’ HBO Go passwords to watch Girls. I’d recommend finding an HBO Go password of your own to watch One Nation Under Dog.

I will warn you though, it’s thoroughly heartbreaking.

I cried, a lot.

It’s the “Betrayal” section of the documentary that really gets to you. I’m a little surprised I didn’t actually vomit.

One by one, workers in a a rural shelter carry one perfectly lovely dog after another into a big metal bin. They’re packed in so tightly they can barely move. Then they’re gassed — you can hear them crying. Once they’re dead, the bin is opened up, a litter of puppies is put in on top of them and the process is repeated. Then a garbage truck shows up and dumps the bin full of dogs into the back of the truck. Read the rest of this entry →

I’ve often wondered how my dog ended up in a shelter. She’s the kind of dog that makes you ask, “Who would ever give you up?” It’s clear that someone loved her enough to train her, and she has absolutely no fear of people or much of anything really (except for thunder, vacuums, and baths). But she came from Georgia, where dogs are just treated differently. Frankly, they’re allowed to behave more like dogs — roaming the countryside, following their noses, and coming home when it’s time to eat. So when I saw this story today I wondered, “Is this how Maybelle ended up on my couch?”

According to Life with Dogs:

Mitchell picked up a stray dog on the side of the road in Oxford last week. The dog was not wearing any form of identification, so she brought it home for the night.